What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

On Sunday night I was cleaning up my sewing table and I stumbled across a cute little pattern.  I'd bought it back in May, at the Great New Zealand Quilt Show in Christchurch. I'd also bought a little bundle of wools that I planned to use on it.  So I decided to start it there and then.  

Learn how to make a simple pincushion using an old thimble and a bit of wool.

This pincushion doesn’t need to be used – it could be given as gifts or hung on some yarn for a cute necklace.

Pin cushions are seriously one of my favorite things. They are so simple to make and you can explore so many options to incorporate. One of them- the thimble.

We put some of these together in a sewing group I go to and I couldn’t keep it to myself. I have to share because I love how it turned out ...

Turn a charming vintage tin into the cutest little pincushion—both functional and fabulous—with this quick and delightful DIY you’ll want to make again and again!

Whether you’re using a leftover quilt block or a scrap of your favorite fabric, this quick make is a wonderful way to breathe new life into treasured materials.

Ideal for gifts, craft fair items, or your own sewing space, this tin pincushion adds both beauty and practicality to your sewing toolkit.

Helpful Tips:

• Use a thicker thread (like quilting or button thread) for gathering to avoid breakage.
• A glue gun with ...

 I am slowly going through my older tutorials and turning them into downloadable PDF patterns. I am listing them for "sale" on my website although so far the price for them is $0.00 - FREE.

I picked my Wonder Clip Pin Cushion Tutorial for this month. If you want to go to the tutorial then click the link in the previous sentence. The tutorial is not written in a form that is downloadable. 

If you would like a download PDF of the pattern then click this link, Wonder Clip Pin Cushion PDF Pattern. 

If you would like a copy ...

There are times when a sewist uses a machine needle for a very short time and then has to change types. What to do with the partially-used (but not used up) needle? I’ve always simply put them back into their little plastic boxes, making sure they were as far to the left of the box […]

That’s me — I’m stuck. I have several projects in the planning stages, and I can’t work on any of them. That’s because my beautiful new (since September, 2023) Bernina 790Pro died just over a week ago. It was refusing to stitch, so I took it in for the tech to look at. That was […]

 A simple scrappy pin cushion. 

Pincushions are a must for quilters, sewers as well as those who love embroidery.  Picking what to put inside the pincushion is pretty important so I thought I’d go over what you can use for the inside of the pincushion.

I am a lover of the pin cushion and don’t think that you really could have too many.   After you pick out the pattern thought the next big decision is what’s going inside the pin cushion!

There are a few products that I use all the time.   Polyfil is usually the one that hits the top of ...

 The name of this post is a joke. A group of us here has been making these and we joke that "we've gone down a rabbit hole." Hence the name, rabbit hole covers. Actually these will eventually be turned into pin cushions once I can stop hand sewing them and find time to turn them into pin cushions.

This first set are woven patterns. You do some stitching then you weave through the stitching to create the design.

This one is a rice pattern.

This one is just a spiral ending with an X in the middle.

We started ...

 I have been playing around with more scraps to make stitched pincushions. Previously I was using only one color of thread so I was using only that color fabrics. This time I decided to switch the threads to match the fabrics and use whatever fabrics I wanted.

For all the fabrics except the bottom right I just stitched them down with a running stitch. But for the one in the bottom right corner I stitched along the print on the fabric. I really like the way that piece turned out and I have that fabric in several colors. I decided ...

 I have been playing around more with my "Kanwandiko" stitching. I am leaning toward the name "stitched meditations" now or "mindful stitching" instead of a weird, made-up word. I have finally perfected my technique to one that is more my own rather than following someone else's ideas. Here are the few I have made so far.

The one above I made using only solids. I thought I would like it more than I do. Maybe ...

 Both of my Sue Spargo pin cushions are now actual, useable pin cushions!

Top: Canna Blossom Pin Cushion Kit or Canna Blossom Pattern

Bottom: Circle Play Pin Cushion Kit or Circle Play Pattern

Both of these were kits. They came with all of the required fabrics, even the fabric for the crushed walnut shell inner "pillows" and a piece of wool for the back. I opted to put the wool pieces for the backs into my stash and use a cotton fabric instead for the backs.

Of course, I have these kits and patterns in my shop, Alamosa Quilt Company ...

I’m debating my next quilt project — decisions, decisions! — and finding things to create while I debate with myself. I ran into a sale at Embroidery Library and saw a design for a pin cushion that I thought was adorable. It’s available in three sizes (each a separate purchase), and I bought the smallest […]

 I'm making progress on my Canna Blossom pin cushion. I have finished the hand embroidery.

I just need to turn it into a pin cushion. My Circle Play pin cushion is also waiting to become an actual pin cushion. Hopefully I will get some time to get both of these finished up soon.

If you want to see what it looked like before the embroidery click the following link: Canna Blossom before embroidery.

 My sewing friends are always so creative when it comes to gift giving! I got two adorable little items: a teeny-tiny pin cushion and an adorable needle book.

The pin cushion is so stinkin' cute! The pin in it is a small applique pin. And it looks huge because the pin cushion is so small.

She went to Harbor Freight and looked around to see what she could find that she could repurpose. This is a bolt screw cover less than 1" in diameter.

Someone else made me the needle book. Here is a close-up of the inside.

I have a “thing” about pin cushions. Somehow I can’t seem to pass up many of them, and this time, thanks to a generous gift from my friend Phyl,  I combined that addiction with a desire to experiment with some of Sue Spargo’s embroidery. I’ve done a tiny bit of wool embroidery in the past, […]